To The Slayers' House We Go
by Manchester
Summary: Inspired by emw's 'List Of Things Dawnie Is Not Allowed To Do.' Since I've already contributed two chapters for that story see Assorted Chapters here, and this tale is much longer than the others there, I decided to put this out as a standalone story.


Inside the jam-packed front living room of the Cleveland Slayers' House, Xander Harris stoically read aloud from his scribbled list of names. This was the roll call which would hopefully verify that everyone was here and hadn't decided to wander off, given it'd finally been determined how to send today's surprise visitors back to their interrupted lives. At least now even the testiest guests were settling down while tucking into the refreshments hastily provided to them all, as a man truly inured to mystical weirdness after a lifetime spent on various Hellmouths finished the last few names on the list. In his steadiest voice, Xander was carefully hiding any trace of disbelief in his tone over exactly _what_ he was reciting.

"Remus Lupin?" Seated in one of the room's armchairs, a haggard older male in his worn and rumpled wizarding robes looked up from sipping at a soothing cup of English-style tea made after swiping Giles' secret stash, and he nodded in response.

"Jacob Black?" This resulted in an answering grunt through his mouthful of cookies from a young and very fit guy dressed solely in a pair of jeans. Shifting in his position on the right side of the couch in front of Xander, the barely-clad handsome teenager there finished chewing and then he swallowed, with every minor movement of his toned body sending sexy ripples of flesh along his superbly-muscled form. Hearing the soft, yearning whimpers this instantly produced from behind himself at the wide-open doorway leading from the living room into the kitchen, where the house's resident baby Slayers were clustered around and peeking past this to gaze with lustful adoration at the hunky guy and his chiseled pecs, Xander just rolled his eyes in absolute exasperation for a moment, until he sighed and resumed reading off the last…_person's_ name on his list.

"Ralph E. Wolf?" Giving a cool look of disapproval to the unmannerly human sharing the couch with him, the animated, anthropomorphic wolf stopped daintily nibbling at the snack he was easily holding in his right paw. Instead, the Warner Brothers cartoon character took away from his muzzle the lamb cutlet which was a leftover from last night's dinner at the house, to quirk high a furry left eyebrow in response to being identified.

"Okaaay," drawled Xander, glancing around the crowd of werewolves, bodyshifters, transformers, and other examples of human-shaped members of the _Canis lupus_ species presently occupying the room. Not that any of them had actually wanted to come here in the first place. However, while earlier peacefully going around their normal activities, all of these beings had been unexpectedly yanked from their everyday business to then get transported into the New Council's location in Cleveland. Ruthlessly stifling his intense annoyance over today's whole ridiculous incident, Xander went on to declare, "Right, that's all of you guys. Now, if Dawn'll move her butt and join us, we can return everyone to your homes. By the way, I'd like to say again how sorry we are-"

Interrupting Xander in the middle of his apology, a girl's very sheepish voice came drifting from the kitchen behind the living room. "Uh, Xan, there's no need for me to actually be there. I can do the spell right here in the kitchen-"

This time, it was Xander's irate growl which cut off someone else's cowardly comment, "You're not getting off that easy, Dawn!" As he wheeled around to glare at the kitchen doorway, where the several baby Slayers there sensibly stepped back at seeing his very irritated expression, the former Sunnydale resident continued in his most menacing tone, "This is all your fault in the first place! So, just get out here right _now,_ and face everyone while you use your Keyness to transport 'em all safely back where they belong!"

A moment later, Dawn Summers came stumbling into the line of sight through the kitchen doorway, obviously shoved there by one of the gleeful baby Slayers also in that room. Twisting her head around to glower at the snickering girls sharing her company, Dawn finally looked into the living room, and she met the gazes of those there, with the Mark of the Beast upon them all.

A dozen pairs of carnivores' eyes narrowed, to send their own dirty looks towards this specific young lady, who even if she hadn't meant to do it in the first place, and sincerely apologized over and over to them afterwards, still had managed to thoroughly disrupt their lives today. Being collected by glowing-green portals suddenly appearing out of nowhere to snatch them up, and then brought to this house filled with the warrior women known as Slayers, wasn't something guaranteed to cheer up anyone there. Indeed, on several faces (hairy or otherwise), lips twitched in order to reveal a hint of fang, presenting a clear message to the paling Summers sister that if things didn't go according to plan, they were _really_ going to be cranky.

Giving them all in the living room a very sickly smile, Dawn then glanced down at her hands, where she was gripping a sterilized needle and a band-aid ready for use when necessary. The young woman's attention was now caught by another small band-aid presently wrapped around the tip of her left pinky, and Dawn's mood abruptly changed into real chagrin. She just _knew_ that on the bulletin board elsewhere in the Cleveland Slayers' House, where the list of 'Things Dawnie Is Not Allowed To Do' was pinned up, yet another example was going to be added to the silly list.

Holding the needle ready as she tore off the protective cover of her new band-aid, Dawn mentally grumbled to herself that earlier today, all she'd done was to try on one of the presents that Melissa Sanders, a Slayer, had gotten for her birthday! At the party which had taken place a few hours ago, when Melissa had unwrapped this piece of clothing to reveal what it was, she'd promptly shrieked with laughter. Further hilarity had come from the house's confused onlookers after Melissa good-naturedly revealed her favorite childhood story, resulting in that gag gift sent by her older sister. However, after Melissa had modeled the garment, others wanted to give it a try, including Dawn. And while still wearing this authentic example of a little girl's costume, Dawn had been in the kitchen cutting Melissa's birthday cake, when she'd given herself a tiny nick on a finger.

That was all it took, with a single drop of the Key's blood immediately sending into the entire Multiverse her emerald-colored portals and bringing back through these dimensional gateways a dozen very strange individuals, none of which were the slightest bit thrilled over this. Not to mention when they'd learned exactly _why_ they and every one of their counterparts had just undergone such a ludicrous experience.

Just before jabbing her finger with the needle to produce another set of portals, Dawn groaned under her breath, glumly predicting inside her mind the next pronouncement surely about to be added to the 'Things Dawnie Is Not Allowed To Do' list:

_Wear an actual hooded riding garment with an attached cape. __Especially__ if it's a bright red color._


End file.
